1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for holding coiled material, such as wire, which permits the uncoiling thereof. The device can be attached to studs or roof trusses and allows coiled material to be removed without twisting and kinking.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A suspended reel for allowing coiled material, such as electrical wire, to be unwound is described in Marcell U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,092. According to this patent a coil of wire is supported on a flat base plate. One end of each of a plurality of lines are secured to the base plate at spaced apart points symmetrically arranged around the center of the plate and about halfway between the center and the outer periphery thereof. The other end of the lines converge above the plate after passing through the center of the coiled material. They are secured together and connected to a swivel device which is clipped to a hook adapted to be hung from a rafter, a pipe or the like. The support for coiled wire is directly provided by the base plate, itself formed from stiff material. Thus, the device is heavy and momentum due to rotation not only of the coiled material and the heavy base will cause continued rotation of the device once pull on the wire to unwind the coil is stopped. This continued rotation will undesirably allow wire to unwind.
A later patent to Marcell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,980, also describes an uncoiling device somewhat similar to that described in the above '092 Marcell patent but permits the dispensing of wire from coils still retained in a carton. Here both the carton and coil rest directly on a base plate. The device includes rotatable means for paying out the wire from inside the center of the carton and a brake device built into the swivel connection to retard rotation. This device will also revolve to allow wire to be uncoiled when tangential pull is exerted on the wire and accommodates varying sizes of inner coil diameters by changing the base plate connection point for the lines used to suspend the base plate. Accordingly, such a wire dispensing device suffers the same drawbacks as the previous device and needs change-over time to accommodate different coil diameters.
Benson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,255 discloses a stud grip or clamp bracket which is removably mountable on studs for supporting a wire dispensing reel. The bracket includes a first arm having a generally channel shaped end which extends around the rear of a stud and a second arm pivotally connected intermediate its two ends to the other end of the first arm. The end of the second arm closest the stud engages the opposite side of the stud from that engaged by the channel shaped end on the first arm so that the stud is clamped therebetween. A coiled reel may be rotatably suspended from the other end of the pivot arm so that wire may be paid out for installation in a home or building. Here again, the coil rests directly on a base plate which is supported from the bracket by a plurality of lines extending upwardly from the plate through the center of the coil to a swivel.
Salkield, U.S. Pat. No. 2,847,172, discloses a floor mounted coiled wire dispenser comprised of a weighted base member provided with an upstanding support rod. A bottom ring or frame is attached to the top of that rod by a plurality of chains with one end of each chain being attached to the top of the rod and the other end to the ring at spaced apart positions about the ring. Salkield also discloses a brake device to prevent overriding when the worker stops paying out the coiled material from reel. The brake includes an L-shaped member attached to the base so that the bottom ring or frame can engage the vertical portion of the L-shaped member. By covering the upwardly extending vertical portion of the L-shaped member with a friction material, e.g. rubber, and by fixing it to the base plate at a distance slightly less than the radius of the bottom ring or frame, the ring or frame will normally contact the brake when wire is not being pulled. As wire is pulled the frame pivots away from the vertical support and will rotate. This requires the direction of pull be from a direction generally opposite the brake member. When pulling force stops, the vertical portion of the brake arm will again contact the frame so that the friction material will engage and slow or stop rotation of the frame.
Reference can also be made to Trunkhill, U.S. Pat. No. 2,562,650 and Noffke, U.S. Pat. 3,017,136 which show other types of electric wire dispensing reels. Other types of support members are shown in Hauser, U.S. Pat. No. 1,034,365, Martinsen, U.S. Pat. No. 1,597,095 and Pelavin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,118.